@ Wall Street
The Dow and the S&P 500 climbed to a three-month high after the leaders of the Eurozone hammered out another ?comprehensive agreement? for resolving the Eurozone?s sovereign debt crisis. The agreement is a first step in containing the crisis. The second will be to fill in the details. Once this is done, markets will be better able to assess whether the plan has a chance of succeeding. As of now, substantial downside risks still exist.
The Eurozone?s debt agreement and better-than-expected news on the economy will take some of the heat off Ben Bernanke this Wednesday, as he gives his third press conference of the year. The press conference, which follows what promises to be another contentious FOMC meeting, is the week?s main event.
There's also plenty of data on tap. Construction spending in September (Tuesday) is expected to be flat across most categories. The ISM manufacturing survey for October (Tuesday) should show a small improvement. Motor vehicle sales in October (Tuesday) are expected to be up slightly. The third quarter productivity report (Thursday) will show productivity spiking during the quarter, as companies found more ways of extracting work out of an exhausted labor force.
The October ISM non-manufacturing index (Thursday) is expected to hold roughly steady. Finally, the October employment report (Friday) should show payroll employment increasing by just 75,000, not enough to bring the unemployment rate down.
@ The White House
In the morning, the President and the Vice President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office. Later in the morning, the President will meet with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In the afternoon, the President will take the next step in his ?We Can?t Wait? campaign and sign an Executive Order in the Oval Office. More information about the Executive Order will be available tomorrow.
